Rear spoilers serve to improve the aerodynamics of a vehicle, in particular a vehicle with a box-shaped structure and a blunt end, e.g. a lorry, and can reduce the fuel consumption accordingly. They are arranged in the rear part of the vehicle and generally comprise air guide elements which extend the contours of the vehicle towards the rear, e.g. with curved, straight or flat faces running towards the rear and towards the middle. Such rear spoilers may be attached for example on the roof or on the side walls of the truck.
DE 20 2009 014 476 U1 and DE 20 2009 015 009 U1 disclose rear spoiler structures in which the air guide elements or spoiler elements are arranged movably or pivotably in order to allow unobstructed opening of the doors.
Pivotable or foldable rear spoilers are generally attached to the rear door hinges. DE 102 28 658 A1 discloses various solutions in which aerodynamic optimization is achievable via surfaces which can pivot via a hinge in the travel region.
Here, the connection of the air guide elements in the hinge region of the rear doors in principle causes a problem since the stowage area available in the hinge region is only small; this avoids obstructing the complete opening of the doors and the pivoting of the rear doors through around 270° towards the front so as to rest against the sides of the vehicle. In order to connect the air guide elements in the hinge region of the door, more complex systems are therefore known. DE 10 2008 036 888 A1 discloses embodiments of the rear spoilers and attachments to the vehicle in which it is provided, amongst others, to arrange a carrier between the rear door and the air guide element which can be extended to allow the door to swing wide open. When the rear door is swung outward about its vertical pivot axis, the air guide element is thus initially also swung out until it reaches the outer faces and the side wall. On further opening of the rear door, the flexible carrier element is compressed accordingly.
Such systems are generally very costly, e.g. with complex hinge or joint structures. Often, deformations of the air guide elements or further parts are required, thus necessitating correspondingly elastic, stretchable materials which in some cases are not weather-resistant. Also, often only the use of relatively short air guide elements is possible, which limits the improvement in the aerodynamics.